Football dummy



J. GlLMAN FOOTBALL DUMMY Filed March 4, 1940 April 8, 1941.

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A TTORNEY atentecl Apr. 8, 1941 FOOTBALL DUMMY Martin John Gilman, Gilman, Conn. Application March 4, 1940, Serial No. 322,117

8 Claims.

This invention pertains to athletic training devices and more particularly to a dummy to be used for training athletes in the art of football.

Heretofore, football dummies have been generally classified as the self erecting type, the nonerecting type and the shiftable type. The shifttype of dummy is one which is supported by the player'and moved about during the progress of the play after the ball is snapped back and the players are in motion. The present invention pertains particularly to the self erecting type of dummy.

The Gilman Dummy Patent Number 2,037,508, issued April 14, 1936 is a packed dummy which uses a filler which may be of any suitable material such as hair, cotton, and the like. The packed self erecting dummy is extremely heavy irequently weighing between 250 and 350 pounds. The packing of this type of dummy requires particular skill and frequently requires special tools.

A packed dummy consequently is a factory packing job requiring a large amount of space for storing besides being diflicult to handle when moving it from one place to another on the football field.

It is an object of this invention to provide a dummy of the self erecting type which is light in weight, and can be reduced in size for shipping and transportation.

it further object of the invention is to provide a lightweight portable dummy of the self erecting "type having an inflatable or resilient member surrounding the lower portion thereof to avoid injury to the player.

it. further object of the invention is to provide a self-erecting dummy having an inter-changeable container for holding the weighting means the weighted container, valves in the pneumatic ring, and the pneumatic upper section.

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the valve for the up per inflatable member in conjunction with the outer casing.

Fig. 5 is a section of the pneumatic ring valve in conjunction with its casing.

Referring to the drawing and particularly Figs. 1 and 3 the upper section 6 consists of two layers, an outer layer and an inner layer, I and 8 respectively, which layers are preferably of canvas having the'warp threads of the respective layers substantially at right angles one to the other to reduce stretching of the material for the purpose of retaining the shape of the dummy casing.

Fig. 2 shows that the outer layer 1 is made of two pieces 9 and Ill which are sewed together at II and i2. The inner layer 8 is substantially the same as the outer layer 1 having two sections l3 and It sewed together at I5 and I6 respectively. The top closure I1 is a piece of canvas having a slit l8 therein for the purpose of inserting the pneumatic bladder l9 within the upper structure. Top closure ll-is secured around the edge of the dummy at 20.

The lower edge of the upper portion is stitched to the pneumatic ring covering at 2!. The base portion has two layers of canvas 23 and 24 which are sewed together substantially as is the upper portion, and has a closure consisting of two layers 25 and 26 which are stitched to the parts 23 and 24 at 21. The casing for the pneumatic ring is stitched to the upper and lower sections at 2! and 22 respectively. The pneumatic ring covering 28 has a piece of material 29 which is stitched at 3!! and 3i forming substantially a circular Iabric casing for the inflatable rubber ring 32 which ring is in appearance substantially an inner tube such as is used in an automobile tire. The inflatable ring has a valve 33 which communicates with the exterior of the tubular ring casing for the purpose of inflating the ring. The upper bladder M has a valve or port 34 which communicates with the exterior of the'upper casing for the purpose oi inflating the bladder l9.

The lower section requires a ballast which in the present case is sand and is enclosed in a container or bag it which bag has two flaps t1 and it stitched at 3% and ill. The ends 01: the flaps are folded together at ll and are either sewed or laced. Commercially both methods are used. However, any confining method such as a mechanical fastener may be employed since the object is merely to effect a suitable closure to prevent the sand or other ballast from escaping from its container.

The bladder l 9 is inserted through the opening it in the top, the bottom part of the bladder resting on the top part of the ballast container. The inflatable ring casing has ilaps 42 and M which overlap and are laced by such as a raw hide strap M; The top part of the upper casing IT has 

